oppression and tyranny over the weak; but not content with trampling on the helpless, they were equally arrogant towards daimyo, however powerful. They were proud of being, as the shogun’s bodyguard, under his special protection; for Iyeyasu, in his testament, had instructed his successors to look after the hatamoto so that none of their families might become extinct. Though inferior in rank and income, they refused to bow to the daimyo, whom they despised as boors and cowards kept in power only by their hereditary possessions, and lost no opportunity of showing their contempt, while their bearing towards the common people was even more marked by high disdain. They would cut down inoffensive citizens with perfect impunity, for permission to kill them they claimed as the samurai’s right. Whatever they regarded as insult, especially to their class, was too often repaid with tenfold vengeance. They formed themselves into bands, and under all circumstances espoused the cause of any of their fellows. Even if he was reprimanded or punished by the authorities, they would voluntarily offer themselves for the same penalty. They vowed to help the weak, especially of their class, at the risk of their own lives, to pursue the strong till they ran them to earth, and to resent every insult whoever the offender might be, though they were willing to spare him if he instantly entreated pardon. Thus, strong in league and eager for brawls, they often forced quarrels in the street and exercised to the full the samurai’s privilege of killing at will any harmless citizen in their bad books.
Such lawless swashbucklers were sure to raise enemies on all sides; and they were ere long kept at bay by the daimyo on the one hand and on the other by such of the common people as had the spirit to resist them. The daimyo were attended by a special class of men whose duty it was to defend their lords against the hatamoto’s sudden assaults, while bands of stout-hearted citizens championed the cause of the common people. The former were known
